In the latest attack on shipping off West Africa, reported by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) worldwide 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC), pirates kidnapped five crew members from an offshore supply vessel around 32 nautical miles off Brass, Nigeria on 9 March. A Nigerian Navy armed guard was reported to have been killed in the incident, in which pirates in two speedboats and armed with machine guns approached the vessel and opened and exchanged fire on its naval escort security boat.
The alarm was raised and the vessel’s power was shut down. The pirates boarded the vessel, vandalised the cabins, took crew belongings and vessel’s property, kidnapped five crew members and escaped. The remaining crew sailed the vessel under escort to a safe anchorage. The incident is being investigated.
In a further incident off West Africa reported to the IMB PRC, armed pirates attacked and boarded a tanker around 17 nautical miles off Lome, Togo on 3 March. The alarm was raised and the crew mustered in the citadel. The master sent a Mayday message to the PRC, who immediately informed the Togo authorities. A naval patrol boat was dispatched to assist the tanker, and the crew emerged when it arrived at the scene. Three crew members were reported missing. The patrol boat escorted the tanker to Lome for further investigations.
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All attacks and suspicious sightings should be reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, tel: +603 2031 0014 (24 hours), email: imbkl@icc-ccs.org
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